Ok, the official first post of my ATP experience thread. I supposed it would help out having some back story, so bare with me. I should also thank one of our JC'ers who gave me the idea for this thread...Heath. He did a similar thing, but it was a while ago, so I thought maybe a refreshed look would be helpful.
First off, I'm Matt. I'm 28 and live in Chicago with my wife and 3 year old daughter. I work in IT for a National Laboratory and am pretty secure in my job. Flying has been a goal of mine since the early 2000's, I joined the Army in 2002 and did 4 years. When I got out I expected it to be easier to get the VA to pay for flight training, not so much. Anywho, I got my PPL and Instrument out in Phoenix in 2007 at the Glendale Municipal Airport. Since then, flying has taken a back seat to having kids and trying to pay the bills. Fast forward to last year when the Post 9-11 GI Bill made changes to allow for flight training when pursuing a degree at an IHL. About 12 months ago is when I got the process started with Mountain State University, who has an aviation degree program in conjunction with ATP. Because MSU is a private institution, I'm capped at $17,500 per academic year, plus another $8,000 through the yellow ribbon program, totaling up to $25,500 an academic year for available funding. Point of the story is, it has taken a long time, and I'm one of the first GI Bill students to go through the program, so I've kind of been a test case.
Once the paperwork got figured out, I talked with the aviation program director at MSU and we came up with a plan based on where I was at experience wise. Because I already have my PPL, I'm starting at ATP at the Multi-Engine add on phase. I have 2 things working against me here. 1, I have no ME experience, & 2, I've been out of the flying game for quite a while, so basic knowledge (Regs / Std. PPL Maneuvers , etc) are all a bit foreign to me right now, so I've had to really apply myself to "relearn" these things...A Tomato Flames Flaps anyone?
So this past Saturday the 7th of July, I arrived at the Chicago ATP location at the Dupage Airport (KDPA) and met my CFI Joel. First impressions were that this is a very small location. They have only 3 CFI's and 4 aircraft, 2 172's and 2 2000 year Seminoles. At 7 am we began the check in process where Joel made copies of my Passport, DL, Medical, Pilot Certificate, and the last page of my logbook. I received the Syllabus binder, Integrated flight flow checklist from the PA-44, Condensed Inflight checklist, and Maneuvers guide. Once that was complete, we made our way to the 1 Sim they have here, an Elite FTD. Joel helped me get familiarized with the sim set, and explained major differences between the sim and the aircraft. My biggest complaint here is that the sim is set up for a Piper Seneca, not a Seminole, so power settings are different and there was a lot of, "well, in the airplane, we'll do it a bit differently"...so much for integrated learning I guess. We did 1.5 in the sim going through the full startup checklists all the way. We ran through all the basic PPL ME maneuvers such as Steep Turns, Slow Flight, Power Off/On stalls. On day one we didn't do any engine out work, I think Joel realized I was already behind the airplane and didn't want to add further distractions. I came out of the sim feeling a bit dejected because of my self imposed perfectionist ideals...Day 2 was the next day, and the maneuvers went much better. We did quite a few VMC demos and I got my first "unexpected" engine failure that went relatively well.
Here I should note how important it is that you memorize the training supplement and speeds before hand. I'd say I was about 85% good going in, but the emergency checklist was key. (Mixtures/Props/Throttle full fwd, Flaps, Gear Up, Identify,Verify, Feather, Mixture cutoff on failed engine. *if the troubleshoot checklist was unsuccessful).
I would also recommend being very familiar with ATP speeds for maneuvers for everything from maneuver entry speeds to pattern speeds.
I am scheduled to do my first flight in the aircraft in a few days (I'm doing the self paced program do to my full time job) and I think I'll be able to get better feedback from the airplane about maneuvers than the sim.
*Initial thoughts, ATP is what it is, a program designed to get you your ratings. The burden of learning is really place solely on the students shoulders. You can bring questions to your instructor, but you need a solid base to start from. My biggest issue so far is the sim. Why would you use a sim that mimics a Seneca, when you fly Seminoles...I think the difference is big enough so as to almost cancel out any worthwhile learning.
That's it for now, I'll update here again after my first Seminole flight.
Matt
